What am i doing wrong?

[FreshCoatSealcoating]

Hello, I am the owner/operator of fresh coat sealcoating ion middletown, oh and i have a few questions/comments maybe you guys can help with. I have been in buisness almost 2 years and it has been really slow but im not ready to give up, yet. I get a decent amount of calls for commercial bids almost none for residential. All the residential i get is word of mouth. I advertise semi heavy, keep my price ion the same region as my competition, work hard and go the extra mile on every job. Here is my problem... I dont want to be a door knocker because im not much of a salesman. Im 25 yrs old and when these buisness owners and home owners talk to me on the phone everything is great untill they see how young i am and i think they think differently afterwards because of my age. I have bid on decent sized projects this summer and i know i was the cheaper guy, not by much but a few dollars cheaper and i drive by the job a week later and somebody else is doing it, that i know bid higher. I really think its my age thats hurting me. I am fully insured, all bids are done on the comp and printed and either faxed or emailed. I give a 1 yr warranty, and dont cut my product like others (maybe 30% at the most). I have a decent looking truck and brand new equipment. I have a nice looking logo.?. I guess what im asking is should i go door to door? Should i just keep at it and something will have to give eventually? Any comments or suggestions would be grear. thanks guys

[Mdirrigation]

Dont tell them you are the owner , you work for the company. When someone calls tell them you will send Bob out to give the estimate . Raise your prices , dont be the low bidder . The word of mouth for the residential , thats great thats what you want. Actually residential is better money , quicker , more referals, quicker pay than commercial . commercial can be a royal pain the dollars are bigger , but the risk is higher .

[GARRETTWOOD]

Do not lie tell them you are the owner and sell the job. Sealing can be a tough market lots of low bidders. Stick to your guns and charge enough to make money and always do a better job then the other guy. Be neat when it comes to prep work and the spraying of the sealer. We do a 2 coat job and charge more. Work holds up longer and we get some and we lose some. You have to believe in what you are doing I started when I was 28 and It was alot of hard work and I'am sure some of the people were a little unsure of me. But we always show up and do a real knock out job and here we are 8 yrs later

[Mdirrigation]

If you want to impress the customer , apply it by broom , spraying residential driveways unless its real long , isnt that much faster than brooming. And brooming the sealer in lasts longer than spraying. I had the same problem 30 years ago when I started , I was young , I simply told the customer I was with the company , never told them I was the owner , unless they asked . This method worked well , still out there 30 years later

[sealcutter]

Do not lie tell them you are the owner and sell the job. Sealing can be a tough market lots of low bidders. Stick to your guns and charge enough to make money and always do a better job then the other guy. Be neat when it comes to prep work and the spraying of the sealer. We do a 2 coat job and charge more. Work holds up longer and we get some and we lose some. You have to believe in what you are doing I started when I was 28 and It was alot of hard work and I'am sure some of the people were a little unsure of me. But we always show up and do a real knock out job and here we are 8 yrs later

I hear you brother.
we send out mailers every year but 90% of my sealing work is by reputation and word of mouth. Not the cheapest but the quality shows and speaks for it's self. I just started another rig that my oldest son is running for residential and was out checking his work Wednesday's, and all the customer were very happy and they finished everything I gave them. Very hard to trust someone to run a sealing rig but if he wants this business he will walk every mile.

[sealcutter]

If you want to impress the customer , apply it by broom , spraying residential driveways unless its real long , isnt that much faster than brooming. And brooming the sealer in lasts longer than spraying. I had the same problem 30 years ago when I started , I was young , I simply told the customer I was with the company , never told them I was the owner , unless they asked . This method worked well , still out there 30 years later

When you brush do you push it or drag it? I can tell you for for sure that spraying is faster, but that is with two guy's. I see guy's doing this by hand all the time but they are there for hours. On good day's we would do about 18000 sf. last Monday I put another rig on the road and I did a half a parking lot and my son did the residential's and that is the most we ever did on one day over 80000 sf. The push is on and I never used this much additive in my life, work still waiting on weather and we are running out of time.

[Mdirrigation]

I drag it , use a 2 quart pitcher and do the cut in around the garage and where it meets the walk .I use an angled kitchen broom for the cut in ,then I then dump out 12 to 15 gallons and pull it along while I am standing in it , I am using a 4 ft pull broom . A 20 ft by 60 ft drive takes between a half an hour to 45 minutes start to finish , this is weedeating the edges blowing off and stakeing the entrance. Not hard at all I even carry a tarp I lay on the concrete so I dont have to jump over it. I spray most parking lots , but I have broomed a few depending on the layout . Alone I can spread 150 to 200 gallons a day by myself . And I am a 1961 model

[sealcutter]

I drag it , use a 2 quart pitcher and do the cut in around the garage and where it meets the walk .I use an angled kitchen broom for the cut in ,then I then dump out 12 to 15 gallons and pull it along while I am standing in it , I am using a 4 ft pull broom . A 20 ft by 60 ft drive takes between a half an hour to 45 minutes start to finish , this is weedeating the edges blowing off and stakeing the entrance. Not hard at all I even carry a tarp I lay on the concrete so I dont have to jump over it. I spray most parking lots , but I have broomed a few depending on the layout . Alone I can spread 150 to 200 gallons a day by myself . And I am a 1961 model

A man of experiance I see...
I too use a small bucket for the cut in near walks and garage's. We too drag for the finish touch but I can't use that 4' brush any more,:laugh: just the 2' for me. I have been a fan of the underlay boards for about 8 years now and use them all the time, cut to different sizes and use them to cover walk ways, block out curbs and what not, they are the first things off the truck after we prep.
Do you use coal tar?

[Mdirrigation]

Do you use coal tar?

Thats the only true sealcoat . Yes , i get it from seaboard asphalt down in Baltimore

[sealcutter]

Past two years I have been doing both coal tar and asphalt emulsion. Pa. had coal tar on the block once and I want to be ready when they ban it.

[Mdirrigation]

I have a 5 gallon pail of asphalt elmusion , to give a try , its a bit more expensive .how do you like it good and bad ?

[PROCUT1]

It takes time to get up and running.

Present yourself that you know what you are doing and you will overcome the age aspect easily.

I moved my company across the country and its taking longer than i want to get traction but its coming. Just keep the bids out there.

I disagree with brooming, brushing and such.

It may work as an owner operator but not if you plan on using employees.

You save a lot of material, but that gets canceled out by the amount of extra time.

Someone said they can spread 200 gallons a day. At 200 gallons a day I couldnt pay my phone bill. We shoot for 400 GALLONS PER HOUR. Of course thats doing big commercial but that's what each 2 man crew is expected to do.

Brushing does not last longer. It puts less material on the parking lot.

Ive had customers ask for brushing, I use this example.
I spray a 4 foot by 4 foot section.
Then I take the brush to it and it stretches to double the size.

Then I ask the customer. Do you want to pay me more labor to use less material, or do you want more material on your lot and pay less for labor.

Never had one ask me to brush it after that.

Now from what I see around here the way competitors spray, I can totally understand a customer worried about that. Heck around here they cant brush without getting it 3 inches up the curb and 3 inches over the sidewalks.

But if you are good on the spray wand, you should be able to leave everything spotless. do around the garage and concrete by hand. Start with 3 feet out, eventually as you get better you can cut that down to 6 inches and you wont splatter.

Sealer doesnt kill grass. its not a big deal if you overspray grass. If you use a fresh tip, and you develop some skill, you will get very very little on the grass.

It sounds like youre doing the right thing to start. Dont change how you do the work and try going back to 1950 technology and think you're going to grow very much.
Your competitor is 20 driveways ahead of you before youre picking up your first check.

Just keep the advertising, keep pushing. Dont be afraid to point out who does crap work, and show how yours is better.

I deal with it everyday. Jobs that I think I had for sure, I drive by and theyre getting done and I have no idea why.
Customers who dont care about quality and wont pay me a dollar more for neatness than they will pay a hack to spray their concrete and buildings.

But word will get out.

[PROCUT1]

I have a 5 gallon pail of asphalt elmusion , to give a try , its a bit more expensive .how do you like it good and bad ?

Asphalt emulsion, at least sealmasters is a really nice product. I like it better than coal tar. No smell, no burn, no water to add.

Its a tough sell though. It costs more.

At the local plant its the same amount as the coal tar, except you dont add water. So youre buying 30% more sealer for the same coverage.

Its not much more expensive than a good coal tar mix, but the problem with that is your competition.

Where I am, the standard is coal tar 30,40,50% water, no sand, no latex, no additives. Just water coal tar and spray.

Im using coal tar, 30% water as recommended by seal master. Then im adding $200 in sand, and $100 in additive

A tank of coal tar ready mix costs me about 5-600 more than my competitor.

Right off the bat you have to try to sell that to a customer that only knows that 2 guys are offering to spray his lot black.

if you take the emulsion, add the sand and additive youre closer to $900 more per tank.

If youre competing against a guy that is happy putting 400 bucks in his pocket on a 500 gallon job. Youre already 500 higher in price than him before you even pay labor.

Its a tough sell.

The material however is great and is the way of the future

[Mdirrigation]

Around here , there are 2 large guys that will not allow the employees to spray driveways at all. I sell more jobs by brooming than by spraying , I only spray parking lots. I generally get the job because I communicate well with the customer , its generally a refferal , but I am also on the higher side of the price scale . I just did a 4000 sq ft driveway with a rise in the middle , price was 20 cents a foot , took me less than 2 hours from the shop and back , 50 to 60 gallons , cant complain at all . Have to go back and do 3 neighbors who liked the job and the price . that should finish out the tank for the season , then I can put the machine away.

[sealcutter]

I have a 5 gallon pail of asphalt elmusion , to give a try , its a bit more expensive .how do you like it good and bad ?

So far so good. Work that was done 2 years ago looks great and seems to holding up well. But commercially I still use coal tar on heavy traffic areas and lots. Some of the smaller lots we will do AE.

[sealcutter]

Asphalt emulsion, at least sealmasters is a really nice product. I like it better than coal tar. No smell, no burn, no water to add.

Its a tough sell though. It costs more.

At the local plant its the same amount as the coal tar, except you dont add water. So youre buying 30% more sealer for the same coverage.

Its not much more expensive than a good coal tar mix, but the problem with that is your competition.

Where I am, the standard is coal tar 30,40,50% water, no sand, no latex, no additives. Just water coal tar and spray.

Im using coal tar, 30% water as recommended by seal master. Then im adding $200 in sand, and $100 in additive

A tank of coal tar ready mix costs me about 5-600 more than my competitor.

Right off the bat you have to try to sell that to a customer that only knows that 2 guys are offering to spray his lot black.

if you take the emulsion, add the sand and additive youre closer to $900 more per tank.

If youre competing against a guy that is happy putting 400 bucks in his pocket on a 500 gallon job. Youre already 500 higher in price than him before you even pay labor.

Its a tough sell.

The material however is great and is the way of the future

I buy my material in concentrate and add my own water and additive based on enthalpy of that day. I have never added sand to coal tar only Black beaut at about 3 pounds per gallon. Today was way to cold to mix 30% water and we finished up a good size lot by 12 and went back at 3pm. and lot was almost dry completely and stripes were done on the front lot.